1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a velcro connector, and in particular, a velcro connector that is mounted on a garment to transfer electric signals and easily connects to an external circuit module or an external line.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, research and development of conductive fibers capable of conducting electricity while maintaining the characteristics of fibers have been progressed. Further, the already developed conductive fibers have been utilized to manufacture a garment for measuring physiological signals in the field of digital garment and health care.
Herein, in order to implement a communication line for communicating with a garment by using the conductive fibers or implement simple electronic circuits, contacts should be formed in the middle of the conductive fibers to connect with the conductive fibers. As methods according to the related art in order to achieve this, there is a method of manufacturing a dedicated connector by connecting a snap fastener or a conductive contact pad using soldering, conductive adhesive, embroidery, etc. As another method, there is a method of manufacturing a garment so as not to generate the connection contacts.
However, currently used methods for connecting the contacts of the conductive fibers have several disadvantages. For example, the method using a snap fastener scheme, in which the snap fastener holds a coupling force by using a magnet, it has an advantage in that the coupling can be easily performed. However, the snap fastener is appropriate to form about only two contacts, not a plurality of contacts on a garment.
Meanwhile, a method for forming contact pads on a garment and attaching them thereto by soldering or conductive adhesives or connecting them thereto by embroidery should be removed from a garment composed of conductive yarns. As a result, the contact pads should be separated or recoupled, if necessary, which is difficult to perform. In addition, in the case of a method for manufacturing an integral connector, an existing PCB connector should be fixed on a stable plate, however, it is difficult to fix the PCB connector on a garment and the connecting part is easily separated due to motion. Therefore, in order to use the existing PCB connector, the PCB should be used at the connector fixing portion or there is a need to develop a connector that can meet the following requirements.
When a method that manufactures a garment without contacts, a simple electric circuit such as a communication line can be implemented by seamlessly manufacturing a garment from beginning to end. However, in order to ensure a seam does not occur during the manufacturing process, a dedicated loom and knitting machine needs to be developed.
Meanwhile, Korea Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2008-0071299 discloses a velcro connector using a velcro tape. Herein, the velcro connector is weaved by using the same area of where a hook of the velcro tape and a loop part as a connecting part corresponding to the connecting part when weaving the textile, which is a conductive yarn, such that it transfers electric signals through the connecting part upon connecting the hook and the loop. The velcro connector uses one area, which is where the connecting part of the hook and the connecting part of the loop are coupled to each other, as one line.
In this case, a user should visually ensure the surfaces between the connecting part of the hook and the connecting part of the loop, etc., are accurately coupled a, such that the velcro connector can function as a connector. When the length of the velcro connector is formed to be long, the user should visually check the surfaces of the connecting part by matching each individual area, in order to make the signal line be connected, thus making it possible to use the signal line of the velcro connector. When the user does not confirm the surfaces of the connecting part provided in the hook and the loop and roughly couples them, a disconnection or a short with adjacent lines may occur.
In addition, the velcro connector forms some area of the hook and the loop as the conductive yarn in order to transfer the electric signals, but since the connecting part is the portion that is weaves together the hook and the loop, in order to transfer electric signals, the connecting part should maintain some degree of length or width, such that the number of lines is limited according to an area of the velcro tape. Thus, the number of connectable electric devices or circuit modules is also limited.
Moreover, since the velcro connector according to the related art does not propose the connecting method with the external line or the circuit module, a need exists for a more practical velcro connector.